More sign petition

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More members of the public join the Civil Society Organisations to sign the petition on Tuesday, at the Commonwealth Street, Pt Cruz, Honiara.

EFFORTS to get more signatures from the public to support the move to bring back the Anti-Corruption Bill on the floor of Parliament next month is gaining momentum.

This was witnessed on Tuesday by the Solomon Star as pedestrians stopped by to sign in support of the petition, which was facilitated by members of the Civil Society Organisation (CSO) in the country.

Tuesday showed some members of the civil society organisations put up a table under the Christmas tree at the Commonwealth Street in Point Cruz, to collect signatures from the public, in support of the call urging the government to re-table the bill in Parliament.

This has resulted in hundreds of people flooding the table to pledge their support by signing the petition.

Chairman of Civil Society Organisation (CSO) Anti-Corruption Committee Dr Huddie Namo says the petition will ensure that Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare bring back the bill in the next parliament sitting next month.

He said they will pursue the petition because they cannot believe and trust the statements coming out from the PM’s office.

Dr Namo says despite PM’s promise to bring back the bill in the parliament sitting next month, the petition will have to be pursued to ensure the government stick to its promise.

He said contradictory statements from the Office of the Prime Minister does not guarantee that the bill will come back in the next sitting of parliament, thus they will continue to collect more signatures, urging the government to bring the bill back.

He added they have so far collected more than 1000 signatures and they will continue to get more until they reach 10,000.

He added the Civil Society Organisation (CSO) Anti-Corruption group needs the support of the public to come out and sign the petition, as it is a step forward to fighting corruption in Solomon Islands.

Dr Namo also stated that Civil Society Organisation Anti-Corruption group appeals for support in their work to pursue the petition, and some of their needs were equipment such as chairs, tables, umbrella, loud hailers and other logistics support.

The Solomon Star could not get comments from the Office of the Prime Minister because its chief of staff has imposed an information ban on this newspaper.